ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Joseph Perry writes for the film websites Gruesome Magazine, The Scariest Things, Horror Fuel, The Good, the Bad and the Verdict and Diabolique Magazine; for the film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope and Drive-In Asylum; and for the pop culture websites When It Was Cool and Uphill Both Ways. He is also one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast and can occasionally be heard as a cohost on Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast.

Official synopsis: From writer/director SkyDirects (Run Nixon), Afraid? follows a group of high school friends whose Halloween weekend getaway spirals into a deadly game of What Are You Afraid Of? — a chilling look at how fear manifests when trust turns to survival. The film stars Kendre Berry, Teairra Mari, and features a cameo by four-time Grammy nominee Mase.

 Director SkyDirects makes a valiant attempt at crafting a throwback-feel slasher movie with mostly Black characters at the forefront with Afraid? (AKA What Are You Afraid Of?), but the result is a film that seems to try to do too much and ends up being unfocused. Its reliance on slasher movie cliches without bringing much new to the table is also a detriment.

The cast members and their performances are the stand-out in terms of positives for the film. They put their all into their roles, although the writing gives them little to work with other than bickering, flirting, or making up with one another before the kills begin. The screenplay is also heavy on cliches, from the red herring seemingly insane local to the rednecks hassling the protagonists to the standard cabin in the woods with no cellphone reception, and beyond. Also, it takes a solid hour before the slasher first strikes.

Plot points are brought up and then dropped; for example, the “What Are You Afraid Of?” game that makes up the alternate title — shown to start the end credits — is only used long enough to set up a scene for one character. Edits are also sometimes head scratchers, including one jump from the characters to seemingly stock footage.

I wish I could offer more positives to offer for Afraid?. I would recommend it for slasher movie completists and aficionados of lower budget indie horror. 

Afraid?, from Cleopatra Entertainment, received a DVD/Digital release on December 16, 2025. For more information, visit https://www.ovid.tv/. 

 Based on one of The Love List’s 2024 Best Unproduced Romance Scripts, this film — directed by Stephen S. Campanelli (a camera operator on everything from The Vindicator and Vanilla Sky to several of Clint Eastwood’s films) and written by Kaitlin Reilly and Dorian Keyes — How to Lose a Popularity Contest is about Ellie (Sara Waisglass), who is about to graduate and go to a major college, leaving behind her horrible high school years and the nickname she hates, Max, given to her by Nate (Chase Hudson). This being a teen romantic comedy, she may just fall in love with him before then.

Somehow, that involves a class president contest, playing flip cup and dealing with parents who don’t understand who their teens really are. Plus, you get characters like Streaker Dupont (Aiden Howard), who gets his first name because he likes to get naked constantly.

This is a cute teen romance that’s all about learning that people you don’t like or look down on can be very close to you. There are some nice lessons in here, and Tubi has been really getting into making films like this. Sure, I’m old and way out of high school, but I get it. 

You can watch this on Tubi.